James, My son's father is $30,000 in arrears for child support. My son is 16. The minimal support received since our divorce when our son was 3 coming from this man had to be garnished or somehow forced. I know this is a different matter, but I feel I should be compensated for this also! Before we were married, James assured me that he had had a vasectomy, 11 months after we were married, I had a child at 40 years old, my youngest was then 8 years old. (Now, back to my original thought) Four years ago I asked that James's child support be reduced to less than half the amount which was set originally by North Carolina Child Support Enforcement in 1997. He disappeared totally for 10 years; no one knew how to get in touch with him when his own father died. James just got approved for Social Security disability and will get lump sum back pay for two years and after that, a monthly check. I, on my son's behalf will also receive a check for the past two years in a lump sum and will begin receiving a monthly check because of his father's disability. I have supported my son with absolutely no contact (James's choice) and very little monetary support all these years. The two years lump sum that my son is getting is nothing out of his father's pocket, therefore, I don't feel that this amount should be applied toward his father's total arrearage. I feel that the arrearage amount should come directly from the father. My son has had the basic necessities of life for most of his life because I have provided them and it hasn't been easy. James will be receiving more than double the amount my son will receive for these two years, which will total well over the $30,000.00 in arrears. What is your opinion? Should the lump sum check I receive on my son's behalf take care of that much of his father's arrearage? Or should my son's father pay the $30,000.00 out of his lump sum check? It is my understanding that I will have to give an account of the way I spend this lump sum check. I have had to spend money out of my pocket for everything during all these years with no father to help out!

Several concerns here - you had a child support order but no one could find the father? Did anyone actually look for him, hire someone to find him?

Child support is not set to punish the father. It's set to support the child. I understand your argument but does it matter who pays it and if the father "suffers" from the loss of this income? It's not a punative award.

The father owes what he owes and it appears that part of that will come from SS.

- or do I misunderstand your question?

Unfortunately this is not a chat board and so any info you get will be strictly legal.

You will have to post in the answer section, not the comments section, because you were cut off and I don't know what you were trying to say.

If you have a child support order the lump sum is subtracted from the total of that order and he still owes the balance.

Is that the question?

Sorry, I've never done this before and trying to figure out how this all works.

My argument is that the lump sum disability my son will receive is as a result of being a minor child of a now disabled person and the amount is for the past two years only. His father has been in arrears for years. Wouldn't my son have received the same 2 years back pay in a lump sum if his father had been current with his child support obligation?

No problem - the site has recently changed and what WAS slightly confusing is now mind boggling.

No, from what I can tell that would be double dipping and I believe that's been covered (earlier). The child is entitled to $X a week from the father, no more.

If the father had been in an auto accident and collected a million dollars the child would NOT be entitled to a portion of that retroactively. The child MIGHT get a portion for some related pain/suffering but the child would not get that portion PLUS back child support.

Does that make sense?

Bottom line - child is entitled to $X a week. That's how I interpret the law.

Also, in answer to your question about someone actually looking for a my son's father who disappeared. Child support enforcement was handling the case, I was trying to support my son and didn't have money to hire someone to look for him. As I said, when his own father died, no one knew how to locate him so that he could attend the funeral. This isn't about punishing my son's father (the part I said I felt I should have compensated for was the fact that he lied about having a vasectomy and I'm raising a child as a result of that lie)I'm not sure how that would play out from a legal standpoint.

At the time, I see an action possibly. Now it would like like sour grapes, like you are vindictive. Plus I wouldn't want my child to know any of this concerning his conception.

Finding him should have been easy for the enforcement arm - maybe they're overworked, maybe they just don't care.

Wouldn't my son have received the same 2 years back pay in a lump sum if his father had been current with his child support obligation? Would that be considered double dipping?

That's why this is so confusing - from what I can read about SS law if the father had been up to date the son would have received a lump sum free and clear. Because the father was in arrears it is applied to the arrearages.

Have you talked to SS about this? I would LOVE to know what they say because there certainly are conflicting statements on the Internet.

They would need an actual scenario with actual people and SS number and you have that info. You could do the next person facing this a very big favor if you could get an opinion from SS.

Ok, First, its not a good idea to piggy back your question on someone else's thread. Therefore, I moved your question and the responses to its own thread. Please take some time to review the rules and FAQs on how to best use this site.

Personally, I agree with you. The amount awarded your son directly as a result of his father's disability he would have gotten regardless of whether the father was in arrears or not. Therefore that amount should NOT apply towards the father's arrears. The arrears owed by the father should come out of whatever amount is awarded to him.

That being said, your situation appears to be very similar to the thread you piggybacked on. A court ruled in that case that the amount paid to the child as a result of the father's disability should apply towards the arrears. I'm not sure how that court ruled that way as the law seems pretty clear.

What I'm not clear about is whether someone is saying that your son's award will be applied towards the arrears. If not what is the issue? If so, then who is saying that?

But the bottom line is, if the child support agency is doing this, then you have to go to court to appeal it.

I have never used a site like this before. I'm very sorry about piggybacking and thank you for moving my question and responses to it's own thread.

I saw JudyKayTee's response and her thoughts about it being considered double dipping if a child received both the lump sum back pay along with the arrearage his father has owed for years.
When I applied for my son's benefits based on his father's disability, the person working the claim said that the check for Social Security Disability IS NOT considered child support. She said the disabled father should still be required to pay child support. The child is getting benefits as a result of the parents disability. So, I assumed I would be receiving the total amount of the arrearage in addition to the lump sum my son is to get. Child support enforcement is saying I probably only get the difference in what my son's father owes along with the lump sum to add up to the total arrearage. Should I wait and hope the judge sees things differently on the court date? And if not appeal it then or what?
Also, as I stated earlier, I will be required to keep records and give an account of how the lump sum payment is used. What about the money I have spent in the past years on my son (braces, summer camp, tutoring) with no help from his father and debts I have incurred that wouldn't have been necessary if I had been receiving child support. I would like to take care of some of my expenses with this lump sum payment.

You are entitled to past child support in the amount ordered - you can't go back with a list of expenses. You can't even go back and ask for interest you had to pay for loans you wouldn't have needed if the father had paid. The time to ask for the expenses is when they occurred. In my area that's once a year.

And you ran into what I ran into - two different opinions from two different entities.

I did ask an Attorney friend who said it is past child support if there are arrearages. Without arrearages, it would be extra money. Then he couldn't find any case or Statute to prove it so we're back where we started.

I also have to pay you a compliment - half the people post questions and go off half cocked when they don't get the answer they want or when it's not a clear answer. You have very clear eyes and a good head when it comes to this issue and I have to assume you will do very well in Court.

If the Judge doesn't agree with you, yes, I'd look for Federal case law, perhaps even State case law, and file an appeal.

Without a doubt - I think a compelling argument can be made in either direction.

Thank you for the compliment, I want to be fair, as well as to be treated fairly, just need to learn to use this site!

No problem. We were all new once.

I promise this is the last time I'll say anything about this. My point about the money I've spent on my son in the past wasn't that I wanted to ask for compensation for past expences or interest on loans etc. My problem is that with the lump sum payment my son will receive for his dad's disability will be an amount that I have to give an account for how it's used NOW. I used a credit card for things in past years that is still owed for or that is even now paid for now so that's why I feel I should be able to use it to make both my son's and my life a little easier now. Does that make sense?
I appreciate your views and help.

Yes, it makes sense. And you know what I always think? Until you ask the Court you never know what the decision will be. I would bring receipts, whatever you have, concerning past expenses, debts and ask the Judge specifically for that relief. As I said, you have thought this through and are well spoken so my feeling is you'll have a fighting chance.

And keep asking - we are all learning.

First, no need to apologize, we understand this can be confusing to a newbie.

Second, I'm still a little unclear about who is telling you what and you now mention a court date that I don't recall hearing about before. What is that about?

My opinion, both from reading the law and a sense of fairness is that since the father has child support arrears, those arrears should be deducted from HIS SSDI award, up to the full amount of the award. The amount awarded your son should be paid in full and NOT counted towards the arrears.

I'm not clear whether you actually got a check and for how much (in terms of the amount of the award) or are waiting for the check. I'm also not clear who is telling you need to account for it or why.

Im going to add something factual here. As far as a vasectomy goes. He may have had one. In most cases a man is supposed to be rechecked after having one because its not unheard of for one to heal. If he never went back to be tested he may not have known. So unless he admitted to you that it never happened then you can blame it on stupidity and not just as a lie.

In answer to califdadof3, my son's father told me he had had 2 vasectomies. He said the first one didn't work and his former wife became pregnant again. He had another vasectomy and it worked. He had to go to a urologist for a problem he had, with the Dr. present I asked that he have a sperm count, he then admitted to me that he had lied. This wasn't the first or the last time he lied to me about things that affected my life and my son's life in a negative way.

Well, too late for Lauren but I never trusted/believed/had faith in anyone. Vasectomy or no vasectomy (husbands included) when it was not a good time for me to become pregnant I protected myself. Again, too late for Lauren but medical mistakes can and do happen.

And, yes, it sounded like he lied now that all the details are out.